


Ginny, Luna, and One Perfect Night

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Driving, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Graffiti, Grocery Shopping, Grocery Store, High School, Implied slowburn, Late at Night, Moonlight, Nighttime, but like only shows the end of it, flash backs, fun date idea: fight fascism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 03:15:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12572500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Ginny and Luna drive around in the middle of the night running errands and trying not to act like they're in love with each other.





	Ginny, Luna, and One Perfect Night

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I hope you like this! I am very tired. Sorry for any mistakes

 

Luna Lovegood was a girl made of moon light, and when Ginny drove past the campus science building she almost mistook her friend for a glimmer reflected off the window. Luna was all blonde hair and silvery eyes, her skin the colour of porcelain, and her light blue dress didn’t do anything to make her less pale. Ginny had to do a double take before she stopped the car. 

 

She’d received a text from Luna about half an hour earlier, asking Ginny to pick her up. Luna had been working late at the lab and had forgotten her wallet at home. Normally, she’d just walk, but it was dark and the hours between eleven at night and four in the morning were rarely kind to young women. 

 

And, because if Ginny was anything she was a good friend, she had gotten in her dad’s car and drove halfway across town to get Luna. It had nothing to do with her friend’s hair, or her laugh, or the way her eyes lit up when she talked about something she liked. It had nothing to do with the fact that between sports teams and maintaining scholarships, Ginny had almost no time to see Luna anymore. It really, really, had nothing to do with the dream Ginny had a few nights ago. She was a good friend, that’s all. 

 

“All good, Luna?” Ginny called as she climbed out of the car. 

 

Luna nodded, “It’s quite nice out, don’t you think?”

 

“I guess.” Ginny reached Luna’s side and looked at her friend once again. She had a pencil tucked behind her ear and wore earring made of bottle caps. Notes were scribbled all along her forearm, stopping only when the rolled up sleeve of her dress started to cover them. She wore a red backpack which mated the sneakers on her feet. The shoes had the names of her friends scrawled upon them. Ginny’s was on the left heel. 

 

“Thanks for coming to get me.”

 

“No worries, I wasn’t doing anything,” Ginny said. This was a lie. She’d been asleep and in the middle of a very pleasant dream involving Calvin Klein and two plane tickets to Brazil. 

 

“You look very nice,” Luna remarked, making Ginny blush a bit.

 

“Thanks, I had just gotten back from a party when you texted.” This was also a lie. After Ginny was awoken by the text she had gone into the bathroom, realized she looked a bit like a raccoon and proceeded to cover her face in makeup.

 

“Was it fun?”

 

“I guess.” 

 

“Had anything to drink?”

 

“No. Should I take you home then?” 

 

Luna smiled a bit and looked down at her feet. “Actually,” she said, “I have a few things I need to do. Will you come along?”

 

Now, Ginny grew up with more older brothers than she could count and, being the youngest and also the only girl, she had learned to stand up for herself. She wasn’t someone who let people push her around. That applied to everyone, even pretty girls with bottle cap earrings and long blonde hair. 

 

“Sure thing,” Ginny heard herself saying. 

 

***

 

_A memory:_

 

_It’s late October in Ginny’s second year of high school and she is preparing for a major test the next day. A plate of cookies is placed on top of review papers strewn around Ginny’s bedroom. Curled up next to her, face hidden by a book, is a girl who’s not quite of this earth. A girl made of moonlight._

 

_“Have you been in love before?” The girl asks. The question comes out of nowhere, and she does not look away from her book._

 

_Ginny,15 years old and out of more relationships then she can count, has to think for a bit. She loves her parents, her brothers, and her best friends, but she gets the feeling that’s not what the girl is talking about._

 

_“I don’t think I have,” Ginny answers honestly “I mean, I don’t know how I’d be sure.”_

 

_“I have,” The girl tells her. She still hasn’t looked up from her book._

 

_“What does it feel like?”_

 

_“You know how it feels when you’re up in the middle of the night and you look out your window and everything’s covered in moonlight? Like it’s shining so brightly that it might as well be the sun and you feel safe but also like the world may fall apart at any second?”_

 

_Ginny nods._

 

_“It feels like that,” The girl says, “Like moonlit streets at two in the morning.”_

 

 

***

 

“So where are we going?” Ginny asked. She and Luna were hurtling down Main street towards some secret place that Luna couldn't seem to remember the name of. The windows were all rolled down and the cool air flooded the car, the wind picking up both girls hair and making it float around them. Moonlight illuminated Luna’s face and glistened off the car mirrors. Although it was nighttime, everything was so well lit that it seemed like day. 

 

“You’ll see.”

 

“How come you know the directions but not the name of the place itself?”

 

“That’s just how my brain works,” Luna remarked, “You should know that by now.” 

 

“Right- Loony Lovegood,” Ginny said. It was an old nickname, one that started as an insult and slowly morphed into a term of endearment. She hadn’t used it in ages. 

 

Luna smiled softly, nearly making Ginny drive onto the side walk. Thankfully there weren’t many other cars on the road. “I thought we were past that,” she murmured, her voice equal parts affectionate and playful. 

 

“Never,” Ginny reassured. 

 

“Good,” Luna said. There was a minute of silence and then, “Are you still dating Harry Potter?”

 

Ginny laughed a bit, “No. Broke up over a year ago. It was weird, like dating my brother.” 

 

“That’s good. Good you ended it.” 

 

“What’s it to you?” 

 

Luna smiled again and looked out the window. Her hair shimmered around her head, obscuring her face so Ginny couldn’t see her expression. “It’s just around this corner,” Luna said after a while.

 

The car turned and Ginny pulled into the nearest parking lot, right next to a grocery store. 

 

“Is this it,” She asked.

 

“Yes.”

 

“A grocery store?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“You couldn’t have told me it was a grocery store?” 

 

“No. Didn’t know the name. There’s no point if you don’t know the name.” 

 

Ginny rolled her eyes, smiling, and opened the door. Luna followed her outside. The lights from the store turned her face a greenish colour, quite different from the silver complexion the moon has given her. Ginny took her hand and lead her towards the store. 

 

Once they were inside, Luna pulled a list from her pocket and picked up a basket. Ginny let go of her hand, a bit embarrassed that she’d been holding it, and the two started to walk up and down the aisles. 

 

“What were you doing at the science building?” Ginny asked after several minutes of silence. The sound of her voice bounced off the tiles and filled the otherwise silent store. 

 

“Manipulating DNA,” Luna said as she examined a display of soy milk, “I’m making bacteria glow.” 

 

“Why?”

 

Luna pulled a carton off the shelf and placed it in the basket, “Why not?” 

 

“Ok, good point,” Ginny admitted as the two moved away from the milk section. The reflection of lights on the floor followed the two girls as they walked to the next aisle. 

 

“Hows the football team?” Luna asked. She stopped in front of a row of cans and took several containers of pumpkin.  

 

“Winning.”

 

“I’ve meant to watch a game.”

 

“You should. I can get you prime seats.” 

 

“I’d like that.”

 

“So would I.” 

 

“I need tea. And crackers,” Luna remarked randomly, walking down the aisle. 

 

“I think you also might need some chocolate,” Suggested Ginny. Luna smiled at her. 

 

“Chocolate is always good.” 

Soon enough, the chocolate, crackers, and tea were all placed in the basket and the girls made their way to the checkout counter. Before they could get there, however, Ginny felt Luna stop and put her hand on her arm. 

 

“What kind of flowers do you like?” Luna asked. 

 

“L-Lilies?” Ginny replied, a little bit flustered. Even though the fluorescent lights didn’t have the same affect on Luna’s appearance as the moonlight did, Ginny was still struck by how beautiful her friend was. Luna’s eyes had turned a hard grey and her hair looked a bit darker than it had outside, making Luna seem a bit less like a spirit and more like someone Ginny could actually kiss. The warmth of her hand on Ginny’s arm didn’t help either. 

 

Before Ginny knew it, Luna had let go of her arm and ran towards a display of flowers. She spent a few minutes looking them over, then gathered two bundles in her arms. When Luna came back Ginny saw them properly- a bouquet of saffron tiger lilies on top of a bouquet of madonna lilies that seemed to be formed from same light as Luna.  

 

“It’s you and me,” Luna said, smiling softly. 

 

***

 

_A memory:_

 

_Ginny is sixteen and has had her heart broken for the first time. She’d fallen out with partners before, but this time is different. This time he was the one that left, and Ginny is forced to experience what she had made everyone before him feel._

 

_It hurts._

 

_It has been three days. When he first told her that he was leaving she could do nothing but lie on the couch and stare at the ceiling. She had memorized the pattern of cracks by the time she felt well enough to get up._

 

_She hasn’t gotten over it. Nobody is expecting her to, three days is no time at all. Her friends give her space when she needs it and love when she needs that. She is forever thankful._

 

_Now Ginny is lying with her head in the lap of the girl made of moonlight, long fingers running through her hair and a voice whispering that it will be ok. The girl’s jeans have a wet spot on the thigh where Ginny’s tears fall, but she doesn’t complain._

 

_“You know what they say, Ginny,” The girl says, “Love without friendship is like a kite, aloft only when the winds are favourable. Friendship is what gives love wings.”_

 

_“Didn’t Sherry Thomas say that?” Ginny asks. She is barely audible, her voice broken from sobbing._

 

_The girl smiles, “You got me there. But it’s true.”_

 

_“I guess our relationship didn’t have wings,” Ginny says, “I don’t think I could ever be friends with an asshole like him.”_

 

_***_

 

The courtyard would have been perfect. It was silver-stained by the moon and crystal plants lined the interlocking cobble stones. Benches were placed in all four corners of the space, each one dedicated to someone who had passed, and a wall rose of the northernmost side. On said wall somebody had spray-painted a swastika, bold and black. The moonlight skipped over it, the symbol did not deserve anything but shadows. 

 

Luna stood in front of the wall with a bag of spray paints that she’d removed from her backpack a few minutes earlier. She surveyed the scene, planning a way to cover up the symbol. 

 

“You know,” Ginny said, “I didn’t think that vandalism was one of your late-night errands.” 

 

Luna frowned, “It’s not vandalism. I’m covering something terrible up. Making the space better. That’s the opposite of vandalism.” 

 

“Did you bring me here so I could distract cops?”

 

“Maybe…” 

 

Ginny laughed and looked around. Nobody was in sight. 

 

“I’m gonna turn it into a kite,” Luna told her after a few moments. Ginny flashed her a thumbs up and she got to work. 

Luna started by connecting the lines of the swastika so it became a square with four quadrants. She used black spray paint, similar to what the symbol had originally been painted with, that made a loud noise as it came out of the can. When it was all connected she added a line that swooped almost to the bottom of the wall. 

 

Then came the colour, bright and beautiful, even in the nighttime. Ginny was reminded of just how talented her friend was. The colours both blended together and stood out at the same time, bright streaks on top of mixtures of blues and purples. To top it all off, Luna added a line next to the black one, this one a deep blue. She sprayed bows across it, alternating shades of red, orange, and gold. 

 

When she had finished, Luna stepped back and turned to Ginny. “What do you think?” she asked. Ginny surveyed the picture then paused. It was good on all accounts but it seemed to be missing something. 

 

After looking at it for a few moments, Ginny got an idea. She picked up a spray can and turned to Luna, asking if she could use it. Luna nodded. 

 

Ginny added her bit to the mural then stood back. The light still didn’t hit the paint, but it didn’t need to. It was a gem on a silver necklace. A brilliant kite and six words. 

 

“Friendship is what gives love wings.”

 

***

_A memory:_

 

_Winter break has come and gone and Ginny is stuck back in class. The teacher drones about something or other and she can feel herself drifting off. Ever since the first snowfall Ginny hasn’t felt truly awake, like the layer of snow has transformed the world into a bed and she is sleeping on it._

 

_Her hand moves absentmindedly across her paper, sketching the flowers her mother used as a centre piece at Christmas dinner. Lilies- red and white striped like candy canes, or berries and snow._

 

_The teacher is passing papers down the row of desks but Ginny doesn’t care. She keeps drawing the flowers._

 

_Then Ginny feels something change and she looks up. The girl made of moonlight is facing her, holding out a sheet of paper. Has she always looked like that? Has she always given Ginny heart palpitations? They have been friends for years, but Ginny feels this is the first time she and the girl have ever locked eyes._

 

_Ginny takes the paper, her hand brushes against the girl’s, and suddenly it feels like all the snow has melted. She is warm, awake, alive. It is spring. It is spring. It is spring._

 

_It is spring._

 

***

 

“Where to next?” Ginny asked once the two were back in the car. Her heart was beating faster than usual, although she couldn’t tell if that was because of Luna or the fact that the two had made street art without permission. 

 

“It’s the last stop. The planetarium,” Luna told her.

 

“What do you need to do there?”

 

Luna gave Ginny that soft smile again. “You’ll see.”

 

***

 

_A memory:_

 

_Ginny is in a coffee shop sitting across from one of her brother’s best friends. He was a childhood infatuation, a family friend, and despite being friendly and, yes, handsome, Ginny feels wrong._

 

_She sips from her drink, trying her best to be interested in whatever the boy is saying. It doesn’t work and Ginny drifts away from the conversation, away from the coffee shop, all the way to the girl who’s made of moonlight._

 

_Ginny wonders why she’d rather be with her best friend than her childhood crush. She wonders if the feelings she has for the girl are real. She wonders what she’d be doing if she was with the girl and not the boy across from her._

 

_And Ginny finds out, for the first time, what the girl meant when she talked about love all those years ago._

 

_***_

 

Luna Lovegood was a girl made of moonlight and, standing under a ceiling of stars, Ginny knew that she loved her. She loved Luna’s voice, her hair, her eyes. She loved the way she walked, the way she wrote, the way she laughed. She loved Luna’s quirks and her inabilities. She loved Luna, and she could barely remember a time when it hadn’t been that way. 

 

Luna lead Ginny down the rows of seats until there was nothing separating them from the vast sky. She took the flowers out of her bag, lay them on the ground, and sat down next to them. When Ginny sat down, Luna took one of the lilies, this one as white as snow, and placed it behind Ginny’s ear. Ginny, following some kind of instinct, did the same for Luna, this time with an orange flower. 

 

The girl’s fingers followed the stem behind Ginny’s ear to her hair, then traced her jaw line, ending at her chin. Her fingers were light and soft, and Ginny closed her eyes because despite being vulnerable she felt safe. Luna had been right all those years ago, being in love was like looking at a moonlit street in the middle of the night.  

 

Luna’s lips were rough but when they touched Ginny’s they were so gentle that she barely noticed. All she knew was that she was kissing Luna. She was kissing Luna Lovegood and it was like kissing the night sky. 

 

When they pulled away Ginny looked into Luna’s eyes and knew that Luna loved her too. 

 

***

 

_A prediction:_

 

_There is a girl from shaped from the flames of the sun and a girl shaped from the beams of the moon and they are meant for each other._

 

_They will be together for as long as they live, and they will love each other much longer than that._

 

_The rain will fall, the wind will blow, the seasons will run their course, and all will be well._

 

_And the sun and the moon will be one._

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this fic! If you want to talk to me you can reach me on tumblr, my user is captain-iamallama1-7-130-25. I'm always looking for friends!


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